Ballad of The Shadow
by themaninthemask
Summary: A lost soul, horrifically transformed into a being of shadow, finds himself in a world he has yet to know. As he searches for answers, he finds himself at the foot of a ruined castle. Will he survive through the darkness, or will the nigh corrupt his wounded mind?


**To make things clear, I know nothing more about mlp than what i watched with my sisters. This is purely experimental writing, to see if i can write about something that is farthest from what i usually write about, which is more of a dark fiction type. I will, however, try, and i repeat TRY watching the show for reference material. This is not to say i hate the show, it's just to say it is something i would not usually watch. If you're fans of the show, then that's great, i have nothing against you. I also may need help sorting through the inconsistencies with my story and the show, so if you see anything wrong with my story, just tell me, and i will fix it as soon as possible. This story is in somewhat of a journal type format, so if you don't like, i'll try to service to that as much as possible. I do not own, nor will i ever own any of the characters of this story, except for my own, other than that, the props go to hasbro. And now…..it begins**

"-" = thought/speech

*-* = footnote

DAY 0-night

Dark, darker, yet darker still. Darkness flooded my senses as I fell through an endless abyss. My thoughts drifted to those whom I left behind, their names forgotten in the madness I was experiencing. Emotions were lost to me, except the feeling of cosmic abandonment. Waves of nausea pounded into me as if I was a rocky shore, sitting at the edge of a sea lost in time. I felt myself draw near to my destination. "Was I arriving at the majestic paradise that was dreamt of by many, or was I damned to an eternity of a hellscape that kept many awake in the deep hours of the night?".* I thought as my eyes were opened and the darkness lifted. *(It was later that I would realize I was destined for neither.)

The soft grass brushed against my skin as a awoke from a slumber that I did not remember taking. For a brief moment, I imagined myself lying in the backyard of my home, or napping in a clearing of a nearby park, but such was not my fate. The darkness did not startle me, as I had spent my time in the abyss, but it was the light, the pale, luminescent light of the moon above that brought a moment of fear inside my heart. Light had grown foreign to me, as my eyes had grown used to the darkness. After the moment of fear had passed, however, my eyes no longer rejected the light they perceived. My eyes turned to the foliage that enclosed me. Thick vines and dense trees surrounded the small clearing that I laid in.

My vision blurred as I rose to my feet, dead leaves and small twigs crunching and snapping beneath my weight. As my vision cleared, my other senses crashed down on my like a jab to my stomach. The cold wind of the night chilled me to my very bones, the smell of dirt and various plant life filled my nostrils, and the sound of water garbling in a stream called to my ears. As these senses filled me with the life I was deprived of during my fall into the abyss, I felt the pains of hunger and thirst. My body seemingly moved on it's own, stumbling towards the stream my body so hopefully wished had not been a mere delusion.

As I grew closer to the stream, my body increased in desperateness to get to the source of water. Every once in awhile, my foot stumbled on a rock, or a branch covered in thorns raked across my skin. I paid no attention to these troubles, as I had only one goal to achieve. At last, I had reached to stream that I so desired. I fell to my knees and eagerly drank it's cool contents. The need for water had devolved me into an animal, an animal that needed not the rules of society or the common standard of manners. I drank for hours, it seemed, before my thirst was quenched. As I lifted my head from the stream, the ripples that I had caused settled, and revealed a terrifying beast that stared back at me in my reflection.

I leapt backwards, heart racing as terror consumed my every thought, I frantically searched my surroundings, looking for the beast that created such a reflection. No such beast showed itself, and as the minutes past by, I thought to myself that it had never existed in the first place. "Calm yourself, Jacob, beings such as that only exist in the nightmares of children, and the stories of fantasy". I thought, as I returned to the glasslike stream that gave me such a fright. As I looked back upon the reflection, the creature had shown itself once more, and caused my heart to nearly explode in fear. My body could not move, and I closed my eyes in fear of death, but death never came. I opened my eyes, and there the beast was, staring blankly through the reflection. I moved my hand just above the surface of the water, staring deeply into the beast's face, and it also moved it's hand just beneath my own. It was at this time I realized the obvious, and a pit formed in my gut. I raised my hand in front of my face, and saw a hand of shadow, skin like the darkest of winter nights. I frantically observed the reflection, which only confirmed my dread. The beast was me, and for the first time, I truly saw it's every detail.

Just as the hand, it's skin looked as though it was covered in a black resin, completely attached to the body underneath. It's eyes were angled, and glowing with a deadly shade of read. It's teeth sharp, and pointed at the end. Other than that, it was featureless, no nose, no ears, which raised the question of how it could smell and hear. Oddly enough, my heart stopped racing as soon as I realized i was the creature I feared. Instead, it was replaced with a variety of emotions, self loathing, self pity, blind anger, and most of all, confusion. "Why, why am I here? Why was I taken from my home, from those I cared for? Why am I like this?!". I thought as I lied there to wallow in self pity. Eventually, sleep overcame sadness, and I closed my eyes, hoping foolishly that this was a nightmare, and I would return soon enough to all that I lost.

I awoke soon, as I heard the sound of dead leaves under foot, and the light of fire drew near. A brief moment of hope was replaced with fear. "What if they see me? What if they attack me, because of what I've become?". These, among many other thoughts raced through my mind, as I quickly rose from the ground and ran. A voice called out, a voice of a woman. I did not hear what she said, either it be her calling out to me, or to others, alerting them of my presence. I dared not slow my speed, in fear of what lie behind.

After countless heart-wrenching minutes of this. I finally slowed my departure from the stream, and found myself in the shadow of a ruined castle. I quickly scanned the area, finding it suitable for rest, and fell to the ground in exhaustion. I laid there for an hour or two, before I picked myself up, and entered the ruined castle before me. The castle was deserted many years ago, as was shown through the crumbling walls of the once great fortress. Shadow filled the throne room of the castle. The shadow called me forth, and spoke in such a tongue similar to that of a inviting bed to a weary traveller. I sat against a crumbling wall, and as my hands touched the darkened floor, it sank.

I gazed at my hand in wonder, as I pulled it from the shadow, It looked just as I left it, at least, what it previously was. I placed my hand once again against the shadow, and one again, it sank into the floor. Wonder filled my mind, as I believed this to be some type of magic trick, or another delusion of my grief filled mind. As I sank my hand into the depths of the shadow, I felt the soft touch of fabric. At first, I hesitated, but as the cold air drifted through the many cracks of the fallen castle, I grasped the fabric like substance, and pulled. As my hand was removed from the shadow, I saw a cloth come out with it, first a foot, then another and another, until finally six or so feet of the cloth had been removed from the shadow. The cloth ended there, and as I placed my hand where the shadow that gave it to me had been, my hand only felt cold stone.

I stood up, and stretched the cloth out. The cloth was actually a cloak, and a fine cloak at that. The fabric was black as the shadows where it had came from, and decorated with diamond shaped jewels of obsidian. I placed the cloak around my body, and found it was roughly my size. Content with this finding, while also still numb to the knowledge of my current status, I sat down again, wrapped in the cloak, and drifted into sleep.


End file.
